In this day and age, we turn to social media for how-tos and tips for just about anything and everything. When we want to learn about a concept, we search it on Google. When we want to learn how to do or build something, we watch video tutorials on YouTube. We have become consumers and producers of content. But not everyone knows that we can monetize the content we put out there.
In this episode, an online entrepreneur joins us to discuss the importance of investing in yourself. We tackle Chris Myles’ transition from having a regular day job to doing online business. He also shares tips in starting your own YouTube channel and monetizing your passions.
If you want to learn how to turn your passion into an income, listen to the full episode!
Resources
3 Reasons to Listen:
- Know more about Chris’ online income streams.
- Learn how you can monetize your passions.
- Discover how investing in yourself can have tremendous returns in the long run.
About Chris
Chris Myles is an online entrepreneur, blogger, and YouTuber. With currently 59,000+ subscribers, his YouTube channel focuses on blogging tips, affiliate marketing, and content creation.
To connect with Chris, you may visit his website or his YouTube channel. He is also has a podcast you can check out. If you want to build your blog, check out his course, Blog Builder Pro.
Episode Highlights
[01:50] Chris’s Elevator Pitch
- He is an online entrepreneur.
- He derives income from various online sources, including blogging, YouTube, podcasting, and online courses.
[03:06] Benji’s Dad
- Benji is Chris’s son. He’s the namesake of his entire business brand.
- He has always been a serial entrepreneur. However, the businesses he started did not make enough money or were not worth the effort.
- He stumbled upon online business while finding ways to replace his then-pregnant wife’s income so she could quit her job.
- He started with blogging. When he made enough money from that to replace their income, he decided to quit his job.
- When he was just starting, he used to do things independently. However, he decided to outsource a CPA to handle tax ramifications when his income started to come from different sources.
[07:15] Figuring Out a Way to Get Stuff Done
- Chris used to run an entire IT department for a local company. The project management experience he gained from that job became helpful when he started his business.
- One of the hardest things about being a “solopreneur” is coming up with your deadlines. You need to make sure you get things done.
- When you do not set a date and time to finish your tasks, things are just aimless.
[10:10] From a Regular Job to Running an Online Business
- Outside of running an online business, he was also a father, husband, and an employee with a 40-hour workweek.
- It is vital to find your creative time. What he does is listen to podcasts, research, or watch YouTube videos.
- Instead of binge-watching television shows, he now devotes time to doing something else productive.
[14:41] Navigating the Career Transition
- The career transition didn’t come naturally for him because there is a science and lingo that he had to learn.
- Marketing is a whole other language.
- He is naturally inquisitive. He spends time doing things that can help him learn.
- He draws inspiration from people’s stories and perspectives to hone his craft.
- He sought information by watching YouTube videos. At first, Chris failed because he was doing outdated practices that were no longer allowed or effective. That’s when he decided to purchase a step-by-step training.
[16:43] “I looked at so many different people’s perspectives—people who failed, people who succeeded. I looked at multiple people who had succeeded and saw what they did, and molded what I did and what I liked. And after a while, things started to finally click.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[19:32] Investing in Himself
- The training taught Chris about website building, affiliations, product promotions, and commissions, among other things.
- Chris learned how to do things correctly through his mistakes.
- He spent around $600 in total on the training. It was a mental paradigm shift to spend on it because you must understand the importance of investing in yourself.
- You can end up wasting your time seeking the wrong information because you don’t want to invest.
[20:29] “I didn’t necessarily learn everything. It’s just that I failed so many times that I happen to know the wrong way to do everything. So, by nature, I know the right way to do a lot of stuff.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[26:20] The Return on Investment from Training
- When his business took off, one of the first things Chris did was to pay off his credit card debts.
- Chris used to have a negative net worth. The money he invested in training was worth it.
[29:10] Online Business Barriers
- He used to struggle with the preconceived notion that nobody will spend money on his offers because he’s a black guy. He used an alias to hide this fact.
- When he stopped worrying about his skin color, things started to pick up.
[33:08] The Importance of Consistency
[30:16] “Look, once you start helping people get what they want, they don't care if you're purple, or green, or orange.” - Click Here to Tweet This
- Chris used to not understand when people say, “You only fail if you give up.”
- Showing up and being consistent will help you become successful in the field you decide to pursue.
- In this line of business, it is essential to stay top of mind.
[33:34] “If you show up more times than anybody else, then you’re gonna eventually become a consistent figure in whatever niche that you decide to jump in. You just have to show up; you just have to be there.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[34:58] Blogging to YouTube Journey
- Dwell time or time-on-page is an essential factor in SEO to rank in Google consistently. One of the best ways to do this by having people watch videos.
- Chris decided to create videos and put them on YouTube. Then, he embedded these on his blog post to get a backlink onto YouTube.
- His YouTube traffic picked up faster than his blog, so he flipped his process. Chris started creating YouTube videos with the accompanying blog posts.
[39:47] Possible Revenue Streams from Online Business
- Affiliate marketing is partnering with other companies to promote their product.
- Sponsorships may take a while because you need to prove to your sponsor that you have enough audience.
- Advertisement income takes time to build up. This will depend on how fast you can get an audience together, but it can become consistent.
- Monetize with course creation.
- You can do public speaking and appearances through speaker invitations on business summits.
[44:50] “Catch Me If You Can” Principle
- If you are successful at something, people will pay you to teach them to be successful.
- You always have an opportunity to guide complete beginners in your field.
[47:24] Tips on Starting a YouTube Channel
- Create content that keeps people on YouTube.
- Start putting ads as soon as you meet the thresholds of 4,000 hours and 1,000 subscribers.
- Work on your SEO. Use titles that people will look for.
- Put a fantastic thumbnail on your videos.
- Deliver the content you promised.
[51:50] Monetizing Your Passion
- You should be able to monetize 99.9% of your passions. Hence, you need to be creative.
- You need to have a real audience who are interested in your content.
- Choose a social network or medium to begin creating content on. Find a medium that works for you.
- Listen to the full episode to learn more about Chris’s journey in monetizing his passion!
[01:00:52] What’s Next for Chris Myles
- Chris Myles is launching a paid online course called Blog Builder Pro.
[01:03:40] “Sometimes it's better to just keep something out there and refine it over time versus trying to get it perfect. Because sometimes people will get stuck in the ready, in the aim, and then they never shoot. So, ready, shoot, aim. Seek, go, create. Go, go, and go.” - Click Here to Tweet This
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To growing and becoming all we are created to be,
Tim
